Foam dispensing nozzles and dispensers employing said nozzles

• US 5,364,031 A
• Filed: 06/10/1993
• Issued: 11/15/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Procter & Gamble Far East Incorporated (The Procter & Gamble Company), The Procter & Gamble Company
• Original Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Inventors: Taniguchi, Tatsuya, Collias, Dimitris I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kashnikow, Andres
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weldon, Kevin P.
• Application Number:
  US08/075,190
• Time in Patent Office: 523 Days
• Field of Search: 239/DIG. 23, 239/590, 239/590.3, 239/343, 239/575, 239/329, 239/330
• US Class Current: 239/330
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 7/0062 including sieves, porous members or the like
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 239/23 Screens
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 261/26 Foam

Abstract

Foam dispensing nozzles and manually actuable foam dispensers for producing and dispensing improved foams made from a foamable liquid and gas. The foam dispensing nozzles include a velocity decreasing structure so that the average foam velocity through the foam refining apparatus does not exceed a certain value.

Claims

1. A foam dispensing nozzle for dispensing a final foam from an incoming intermediate foam, said nozzle comprising:

(a) an inlet conduit for receiving the incoming intermediate foam from an initial foam refining means, the incoming intermediate foam consisting of a foamed mixture of a foamable liquid and a gas at an intermediate foam velocity;

(b) a final foam refining means for converting the intermediate foam into a final foam located in fluid communication with the inlet conduit and having a plurality of substantially uniformly-sized and evenly distributed passageways therethrough, the passageways having a dimension from about 0.020 mm to about 0.120 mm; and

(c) a velocity decreasing means for reducing the intermediate foam velocity to a velocity no greater than 300 cm/sec through the foam refining means, the velocity decreasing means being located between and in fluid communication with the inlet conduit and the foam refining means.

2. A foam dispensing nozzle according to claim 1 wherein said velocity decreasing means comprises a volume expanding means.

3. A foam dispensing nozzle according to claim 2 wherein the volume expanding means is an expanded conduit having a cross-sectional area at its outlet at least larger than across sectional area of its inlet.

4. A foam dispensing nozzle according to claim 3 wherein said ratio of cross-sectional areas of the outlet to inlet is from about 2:

1 to about 8;

1.

5. A foam dispensing nozzle according to claim 4 wherein said expanded conduit has a rectangular cross sectional shape having a height to width ratio from about 1:

1.5 to about 1;

2.

7. A foam dispensing nozzle according to claim 1 or 6 wherein the total area of the final foam refining means is from about 0.5 cm² to about 10 cm² and the percentage open area is from about 15% to about 50%.

8. A foam dispensing nozzle according to claim 2 or 6 wherein said passageways of said screen have a dimension from about 0.035 mm to about 0.080 mm.

9. A foam dispensing nozzle according to claim 1 or 6 wherein the total area of the final foam refining means is from about 1 cm² to about 2 cm² and the percentage open area is from about 20% to about 40%.

10. The manually-actuable foam dispenser according to claim 4 or 6 wherein said foam dispenser is a pump foam dispenser.

6. A pump foam dispenser for dispensing a final foam from an incoming intermediate foam, said dispenser comprising a reservoir to contain said foamable liquid, a manually-actuable means for generating a volume of a mixture of said foamable liquid and a gas, and a foam dispensing nozzle sealably attached in fluid communication with said manually-actuable means wherein the improvement comprises a nozzle comprising:

(a) an inlet conduit for receiving the incoming intermediate foam from an initial foam refining means, the incoming intermediate foam consisting of a foamed mixture of a foamable liquid and a gas at an intermediate foam velocity;

(b) a final foam refining means for converting the incoming intermediate foam into a final foam located in fluid communication with the inlet conduit and having a plurality of passageways therethrough, the passageways having a dimension from about 0.020 mm to about 0.120 mm; and

(c) a velocity decreasing means for reducing the intermediate foam velocity to a velocity no greater than 300 cm/sec through the passageways of the foam refining means, the velocity decreasing means being located between and in fluid communication with the inlet conduit and the foam refining means.